Leigh Moon
Everytime I go to the grocery store and pass the whole chickens, I think to myself, who on Earth actually cooks those things?
Well, recently we’ve been in the endless cycle of the same old, same old. We love to load up on chicken breasts and any other cut of meat that is on sale. The nice thing about roasting a chicken is the price! This dinner can be made in under $5 (depending on the size of your chicken).
So after watching a couple of cooking shows and reading a couple of blogs, I think there is a fool proof way to roasting a chicken.
Start with a whole chicken. For every pound it weighs, cook it 20 minutes, then add 15 minutes. For example, if you buy a 4lb. chicken, you will cook it 1 hour and 35 minutes. Give yourself about 15 minutes for prep.
Rinse the chicken with cool water. The neck really grosses me out so grab one of your big, super sharp knives and cut the neck off. Don’t worry about cutting out the backbone and butterflying it or anything fancy. Just chop off the neck.
Reach inside (you can use tongs, no shame) and get out those nasty gizzards. Discard. You will need:
Olive oil, 2 lemons, 6 cloves of garlic (yeah, I know, but trust me, its a whole chicken), 1 shallot, rosemary, salt and pepper. I think this dish is great with some roasted vegetables. I used russet potatoes (they are super cheap!) and carrots, but really you can use whatever vegetables you want!
To start, grab a paper towel and dab the chicken dry. This makes the skin nice and crispy. Place in roasting pan. Coat the bird with plenty of olive oil and rub it in. Slice one garlic clove and shove under the skin, spread well. Take the remaining garlic, unpeeled is fine! Save yourself the time! Then place inside the cavity. Take one lemon, cut into quarters and also place inside the cavity. Take the other lemon, cut into 1/8 wedges and place around the outside of the chicken.(Save a couple the drizzle the juice over the finished product). Take the shallot, cut in half; put half in the cavity, half around bird, allowing the layers to come apart. Generously season with salt and pepper.
Go ahead and add your vegetables around the chicken in the same roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil and about 1/2 Tbsp. dried rosemary, then some salt and pepper to taste.
After it is cooked, tent it with aluminum foil for 10 minutes. To carve, find the breast bone, get as close as you can to it with your knife and carve it through to the bottom, then curve it to the outside. This will get you a pretty serving of roast chicken! Sprinkle with lemon juice and enjoy!!
Don’t be fooled though..it won’t give you a whole lot of servings! Tal and I aren’t big on dark meat, so if you are, this will be great leftovers! I had an additional serving of white meat left which I made chicken salad out of for lunch. Talk about moist and delicious!!
